Sunday, 16 March 2014

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the
temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The
Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m
not like other people —greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax
collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his
eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath
from me—a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather
than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the
one who humbles himself will be exalted.”Luke 18:9-14 (HCSB)

I knew this parable. I knew for a long time. I heard and read this
passage many times. But until today, my understanding of this parable was quite
off the mark. All this time, I thought the meaning of this parable was about condemning
religious hypocrisy. But today, I was privileged to listen to two different
sermons by two different men from my church on this same passage. And both
corrected my faulty understanding and hammered in the gospel of grace into me
through this passage. You see, Jesus was telling this parable to those who trusted in their own good works (v.9). Those who tried to earn a good
standing with God by their own efforts. Those who were confident that they were
righteous before God because they were doing so many good things. By this
parable, Jesus was turning their world upside down. He was saying, and He is
saying to all of us even today, that we can never be right with God by our own efforts, yet,
at the same time, that God is happy to declare us righteous when we recognise
our sins and appeal to Him for mercy.

How does or can God forgive a sinner when even a morally upright
person like the Pharisee isn’t good enough for Him? You may or may not be clear
on how this works, but if you are wondering, you should keep on listening to
this man, Jesus who told the parable.